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Thursday, October 31, 2013

Anne Harmon is finishing up her month as CCEE Stampers challenge hostess today. In honor of Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, she's asked us to make a card with a dog theme. I created a relatively clean and simple card for my contribution.

Check out the rest of the kennel at the CCEE Stampers Blog and play along by linking your card at the end of the post.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Speedy Fox and Friends' month-long "scene" theme has come to end this week -- with a Farm Scene. My side-step card this week is made with three MFP sets -- Tree Selections, Scenic Selections, and Country Charm.

Check out the MFP Blog to see the farm scenes that the rest of the team has created. If you'd like to play along, link your card at the end of the post there -- and you might win a free MFP stamp set.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

This month's CCEE Stampers hostess, Anne Harmon, asked the team to make a Halloween card -- but in non-traditional colors (no orange, black, green, or purple). My daughter-in-law Alex is going to be participating in a Zombie Run next month -- as a zombie, not a runner. As their team is being sponsored by the doctor's office where she works, they are called the Dead Meds. Fellow CCEE Stamper, Vicky Gould, shared a digital image of a zombie nurse with me -- and I made this card for Alex. My colors are red, brown, and gray.

See how the rest of the team handled this non-traditional Halloween challenge by visiting the CCEE Stampers Blog.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Mark's Finest Papers, a Heinrich Company is having a series of challenges to celebrate 12 Days of Christmas. We're doing it in October so that, if you find something you like, you've got plenty of time to create one or more items between now and Christmas. Today I am presenting a tutorial for a technique I learned a couple of years ago -- Faux Mosaic/Stained Glass. It makes a very nice Christmas card -- or perhaps a small picture you could hang on the wall.

This is the card I made for the 12 Days of Christmas:

This technique is basically an Embossing Resist technique,
with a little twist.

Supplies needed:

Hand-made mosaic background stamp

Versamark

Clear embossing powder

Heat tool

Black ink (I used Memento Tuxedo Black)

Colored image

Several stamp companies provide their rubber stamps on one
big sheet of rubber, and the customer punches or cuts out each individual
image. This leaves lots of excess rubber. To make the background stamp, take the excess
rubber and cut it into smaller pieces.

Glue the small pieces of rubber onto a piece of wood or
acrylic block. My brother-in-law cut two
pieces of wood for my sister and me to make our background stamps. Here is a close-up of the stamp.

STEP ONE

Color your image and cut to size.

STEP TWO

Apply Versamark over the entire background stamp.

STEP THREE

Stamp onto the colored image. I usually do this upside down so that I can
make sure the Versamark is applied on the entire image.

STEP FOUR

Sprinkle the image with Clear Embossing Powder.

This photo shows the entire image covered in embossing
powder. If you look closely, you can see
the lines where the embossing powder did not stick.

STEP FIVE

Emboss the image using a heat gun. When finished, you will see the shiny parts
which were covered with the clear embossing powder.

STEP SIX

Here comes the scary part.
Rub the entire image with black ink.

STEP SEVEN

With a paper towel, wipe off the black ink. You can see that the sections covered with
Versamark and clear embossed are wiping relatively clean, but the black is
staying in the lines between the sections.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

The Speedy Fox and Friends challenge is continuing our "scene theme" this week -- it's a Zoo Scene -- and I have another side-step card. I live in Florida and have visited a different kind of zoo -- Busch Gardens -- which is not only a theme park with lots of roller coasters, shows, etc., but is also a wonderful place to see African animals in an open-air zoo. I used two MFP sets to create my card -- Be Wild and Free, Above the Rest.

Check out the MFP Blog and see what the rest of the team has created; and, if you'd like to play along with us, link up your zoo scene card at the end of the blog post there -- you might win a free stamp set.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Anne Harmon, this month's CCEE Stampers hostess, is celebrating the anniversary of the release of "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" today -- so she asked us to make a card with lots of flowers. My grandmother always had bunches and bunches of pansies growing in her garden, so I am bringing some of them to the party today.

Pop on over to the CCEE Stampers blog and take a look at all the flowers there. We'd love for you to play along with us.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

This week the Speedy Fox and Friends challenge is to create a Fall Scene. If you were here last week for the Snow Scene challenge, you saw my side-step card. I've decided to make another side-step card this week too, using three different MFP sets -- Autumn Glory, Scenic Selections, and Halloween Selections. I stippled the leaves on the two trees.

Check out the MFP Blog to see what the rest of the team has created this week. If you'd like to play along with us, link your card at the end of the post there -- you might win a free stamp set.

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the blogs listed below (don't forget this one) each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on Oct. 12, 2013, on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win; and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 10 PM EST on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013.

The special stamp set we have for you this month is:

Works of Art

The mini stamp set we have for you this month is:

Wise Men

My first card using today's set is a Side-Step Rocker card. Side-Step cards are fun to make -- this one has a little bit of a twist to it. I found that patterned paper at Michaels; it was the perfect DP for this apple-themed card. I've already mailed this card to one of the nurses in my doctor's office. I was recently diagnosed with diabetes, and she conducts the all-day diabetes education class. It was very informative, and she made it fun as well.

Both of my cards today wound up being thank-you cards. One of the sentiment stamps in this fall set is a collage of apple-related phrases.

I hope you found lots of inspiration this week. Be sure to check out the blogs of the rest of the design team. Remember, if you comment on their blogs, you may win one of this month's stamp sets.

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the blogs listed below (don't forget this one) each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on Oct. 12, 2013, on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win; and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 10 PM EST on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013.

The special stamp set we have for you this month is:

Works of Art

The mini stamp set we have for you this month is:

Wise Men

My first card for Huge Blooms is actually a small card. It measures 3 1/4" x 6 1/2". I used the larger of the two flowers on the card and the smaller flower on the envelope.

I used the flower images only for the background, creating my own DP for my second card today. The main focus of this one is the sentiment.

Be sure to check out the blogs of the rest of the design team. Remember, if you comment on their blogs, you may win one of this month's stamp sets.

As today is Brett Farve's birthday, Anne Harmon asked the CCEE Stampers to make a card related to football. I know Brett Farve was a member of the Green Bay Packers, but my team is the Miami Dolphins; so my card is made with their colors of aqua, orange, and white. I added a couple of sports-related buttons.

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the blogs listed below (don't forget this one) each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on Oct. 12, 2013, on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win; and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 10 PM EST on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013.

The special stamp set we have for you this month is:

Works of Art

The mini stamp set we have for you this month is:

Wise Men

The layout for my first card today is a favorite of mine. I used two of the small images from today's set.

Again my second card is a regular A2 card. Are you noticing a trend for this month? One regular and one not so regular. Not much of a theme, but it's the best I could do this month. I actually used an image from another MFP set, Wealthy Fish, behind the focal panel, which is popped up with foam dots.

The extra set this month is another Oriental set. The main image on this set is actually a background of oriental symbols. It made a nice base for my easel.

Be sure to check out the blogs of the rest of the design team. Remember, if you comment on their blogs, you may win one of this month's stamp sets.

Please
hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp
sets! Just comment on the blogs listed below (don't forget this one) each
day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the
blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be
announced on Oct. 12, 2013, on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go
back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the
more chances you have to win; and comments on the MFP blog count
twice!) The deadline for commenting is 10 PM EST on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013.

The special stamp set we have for you this month is:

Works of Art

The mini stamp set we have for you this month is:

Wise Men

The directions for my first card this month came from one of the Technique Junkies Newsletter CDs. It's called a double display card. As you may be aware, I do love those fun folds. There was lots of scoring and cutting on this. Don't you just love that little scarecrow!

My second card is a regular A2 card. That turkey looks pretty dapper in his perky hat!

The mini set this month is called Wise Men. I made a card using this set for today. There is no stamping on the front of the card -- just an ornament shape cut out revealing the Wise Men strategically stamped on the inside. The star is a punched element.

Here is the inside.

Be sure to check out the blogs of the rest of the design team. Remember, if you comment on their blogs, you may win one of this month's stamp sets.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

This week the Speedy Fox and Friends challenge is to make a snow scene. I thought that a side-step card might work well for a scene card. I used several MFP sets in creating my card -- Winter Scenes and Christmas Selections.

Be sure to check out the MFP Blog to see the snow scenes that the rest of the team created. If you'd like to play along with us, link your card up at the end of the MFP blog post and you might win a free stamp set.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Anne Harmon is the CCEE Stampers hostess for the month of October, and she asked us to make cards today using ovals -- in honor of opals, which are October's birthstone and oval in shape. I'm giving you a sneak peek at a brand-new set from Mark's Finest Papers, a Heinrich Company, called Pandas. Look for it next week. I found some bamboo paper at Michaels a couple of weeks ago and bought it, knowing that there was bamboo in this set.

Clownmom

A little about me

My name is Lois, and I've been stamping since 2006. I retired a couple of years ago; and, although I volunteer at my church and a local non-profit, I do spend a great deal of my energies on this exciting hobby. My late husband and I raised three children, and I have eight grandchildren -- from age 9 to 27.